Banks upbeat on US consumer despite bank profit declines, inflation and rising debt levels

abcnews.go.com:

Three of the nation’s biggest banks say their profits fell last quarter

NEW YORK — The biggest banks in the country posted strong profits last year, helped by higher interest rates and a strong economy, despite having to deal with the lingering industry costs of last year's banking crisis that caused the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

All the banks had one-time charges in their quarterly results, many of them specifically related to their own businesses, making this quarter particularly messy.

But setting aside the turbulence of the banking panic and the charges, the banks had a mostly strong 2023. They benefitted from by a resilient job market, U.S. consumers who, despite inflation, continued to spend and not fall behind on their debts, and higher interest rates that have boosted revenue across the industry.

JPMorgan Chase said Friday that its profits dropped 15% in the fourth quarter, despite the bank reporting record quarterly revenue.

JPMorgan's profits fell because it was required to pay $2.9 billion to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as part of an industrywide, one-time special assessment by the regulator to cover the $16.7 billion in costs to cover the uninsured depositors caught up in the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Other banks like Citi and BofA are paying this assessment as well.

With that aside, JPMorgan brought in an eye-popping $50 billion in profits last year, up from $37.6 billion in profits in 2022. Revenue at the largest bank in the country was nearly $160 billion. On a per-share basis, JPMorgan posted a profit of $3.04 a share, which was less than what analysts expected, but forecasts this quarter were thrown off by these one-time charges.

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